People today typically utilize several devices for voice communications. For example, most people have a mobile phone which may receive and make calls over a cellular communications network. In addition, the use of voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has become increasingly popular. Voice over Internet Protocol transmits voice over a data network utilizing Internet Protocol (IP) data packets. In VoIP, analog speech signals received from an audio source are digitized, compressed, and translated into IP packets for transmission over an IP network such as the Internet. Some benefits of VoIP include cost savings and new applications. For example, VoIP can be used to bypass the toll structure imposed by the service providers that operate the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Finally, in the home or office environment, many users may still prefer to use a telephone connected to the public switched telephone network, which may offer higher call quality.
With the use of several telephone devices, the user has several telephone numbers at which he or she can be reached by a calling party. As a result, the situation arises where the user may be on an active call on one device and then receive an incoming call on one or more other devices. In the prior art, the user must physically switch devices to answer the other call. Furthermore, the user may have to end the current call to answer the new incoming call.
The situation may also arise where the user may receive multiple incoming calls simultaneously. In the prior art, it is inconvenient or often infeasible for the user to quickly answer both calls before one of the calls is forwarded to voicemail. The user must therefore typically ignore one of the incoming calls in order to answer the other incoming call.
As a result, there is a need for improved methods and systems for call control across multiple interfaces.